HYPE MAGAZINE x TOMS PRESENT: CHANGING SOUNDS

It’s no secret that Producers have, for a long time, been looked at as the real architects of hip hop culture’s greatest and biggest hits. It’s also no secret that in South Africa producers have come a long way in terms of being recognized as the stars that they are. Producers definitely take center stage in a way perhaps that people don’t really see that much. Whether you look at the likes of Tweezy, Ruff, BeatMochini, 37 mph, Octave Couple, IV League, Wichi 1080, Mash Beatz or even Anatii, producers have become their own entities that the game cannot simply progress without. And every couple of months or years, we get a new wave of producers that dominate airwaves with their unique sounds, but the issue still remains that we hardly appreciate nor celebrate them enough… Okay, take a look at this example, years ago when Cassper Nyovest released his ‘Doc Shebeleza’ hit, many of us weren’t aware that it was 16-year-old (at that time) Fairness Musa Twala who played a major role in creating arguably the biggest SA hip hop record to date, but here’s what’s crazy right, if Fairness was a producer that came from perhaps the states and ‘Doc Shebeleza’ broke records in the states, the boy would’ve been put on the highest pedestal because it’s the producers role that continuously plays a huge role in the success story of an artist. And it is weird that we, here in SA, don’t really show that same level of interest and praise towards the guys behind the hits the same way that other countries celebrate theirs. Think about it…